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GAL4 activates transcription in Drosophila

Nature volume 332, pages 853–856 (1988)Cite this article

Abstract

GAL4 is a yeast regulatory protein that binds to specific sites within a DNA sequence called UASG (galactose upstream activating sequence) and activates transcription of linked genes1–6. This activation requires two functions of the protein7,8: a DNA binding domain located near the amino terminus8, and one or more 'activating regions'7–11. The 'activating regions' are highly acidic9–11 (see also ref. 12) and can be replaced, for example, by a short peptide designed to form a negatively charged, amphipathic α-helix13. GAL4, as well as deletion derivatives bearing one or more 'activating regions' attached to the DNA binding domain, activates transcription in cultured mammalian cells from mammalian promoters linked to a UASG (refs 14,15). Here we show that GAL4, when expressed in particular tissues of Drosophila larvae, stimulates tissue-specific transcription of a Drosophila promoter linked to GAL4 binding sites.

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Author notes

  1. Janice A. Fischer

    Present address: Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Department of Biochemistry, University of California, Berkeley, California, 94720, USA

  2. Edward Giniger

    Present address: Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Department of Physiology, University of California, San Francisco, California, 94143, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Harvard University, 7 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 02138, USA

    Janice A. Fischer, Edward Giniger, Tom Maniatis & Mark Ptashne

Authors
  1. Janice A. Fischer
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  2. Edward Giniger
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  3. Tom Maniatis
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  4. Mark Ptashne
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Fischer, J., Giniger, E., Maniatis, T. et al. GAL4 activates transcription in Drosophila. Nature 332, 853–856 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1038/332853a0

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